Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692 of 30 January 2020 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards rules for entry into the Union, and the movement and handling after entry of consignments of certain animals, germinal products and products of animal origin (Text with EEA relevance) (c. 692)

PART II U.K. ANIMAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY INTO THE UNION OF KEPT TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLES 3 AND 5

TITLE 3 U.K. ANIMAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR POULTRY AND CAPTIVE BIRDS

CHAPTER 2 U.K. Specific animal health requirements for captive birds

SECTION 1 U.K. ANIMAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR CAPTIVE BIRDS

Article 53 U.K. Requirements concerning the identification of captive birds

Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter the Union if the animals of the consignment are identified with an individual identification number by means of a unique marked closed leg-ring or an injectable transponder, which contains at least the following information:

(a)

the code of the third country or territory of origin conforming with ISO Standard 3166 in the format of two-letter;

(b)

a unique serial number.

Article 54 U.K. Specific preventive measures for the containers in which captive birds are transported

Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter the Union if such consignments have been transported in containers which, in addition to the requirements regarding containers laid down in Article 18, comply with the following requirements:

(a)

they are closed in accordance with the instructions of the competent authority of the third country or territory of origin in order to avoid the possibility of any substitution of the contents;

(b)

they bear the information for the particular species and category of birds set out in Annex XVI;

(c)

they are used for the first time.

Article 55 U.K. Requirements concerning the establishment of origin of the consignment of captive birds

Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter the Union if the animals of the consignment come from an establishment which complies with the following requirements:

(a)

it has been approved by the competent authority of the third country or territory of origin as meeting the specific animal requirements laid down in Article 56, and that approval has not been suspended or withdrawn;

(b)

it has been assigned a unique approval number by the competent authority of the third country or territory of origin, which has been communicated to the Commission;

(c)

the name and approval number of the establishment of origin appears on a list of establishments drawn up and published by the Commission;

(d)

within a 10 km radius of the establishment, including, where appropriate, the territory of any neighbouring country, there has been no outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza or infection with Newcastle disease virus for a period of at least the preceding 30 days prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union;

(e)

in the case of psittacidae, either:

(i)

avian chlamydiosis has not been confirmed on the establishment for a period of at least the 60 days prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union and in case avian chlamydiosis has been confirmed on the establishment during the last 6 months prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union, the following measures have been applied:

• infected birds and birds likely to be infected have received treatment,

• following the completion of the treatment, they have been found negative to laboratory testing for avian chlamydiosis,

• after the completion of the treatment, the establishment has been cleaned and disinfected,

• at least 60 days have elapsed from the completion of the cleaning and disinfection referred to in the third indent;

or

(ii)

the animals have been kept under veterinary supervision for the 45 days prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union and were treated against avian chlamydiosis.

Article 56 U.K. Specific animal health requirements for the approval, maintenance of approval and suspension, withdrawal or re-granting of the approval of the establishments of origin of the consignment of captive birds

1. Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter into the Union if the animals of the consignment come from establishments approved by the competent authority of the third country or territory of origin as referred to in Article 55, and that comply with the following requirements set out in Annex XIX:

(a) point 1, in relation to biosecurity measures;

(b) point 2, in relation to facilities and equipment;

(c) point 3, in relation to record keeping;

(d) point 4, in relation to personnel;

(e) point 5, in relation to health status.

2. Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter into the Union if the animals of the consignment come from establishments which are under the control of an official veterinarian of the competent authority of the third country or territory, who shall:

(a) ensure that the conditions set out in this Article are met;

(b) visit the premises of the establishment at least once per year;

(c) audit the activity of the veterinarian of the establishment and the implementation of the annual disease surveillance programme;

(d) verify that the results of the clinical, post-mortem and laboratory tests on the animals have revealed no occurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza, infection with Newcastle disease virus or avian chlamydiosis.

3. The approval of an establishment of captive birds shall be suspended or withdrawn where that establishment no longer complies with the conditions set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, or there has been a change of use so that it is no longer used exclusively for captive birds.

4. The approval of an establishment of captive birds shall be suspended when the competent authority of the third country or territory has received notification of the suspicion of highly pathogenic avian influenza, infection with Newcastle disease virus or avian chlamydiosis, and until the suspicion has been officially ruled out. Following the notification of suspicion, the necessary measures to confirm or rule out the suspicion and to avoid any spread of disease shall be taken, in accordance with the requirements of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687.

5. When the approval of an establishment has been suspended or withdrawn, the establishment shall again be approved provided the following conditions are met:

(a) the disease and the source of infection has been eradicated;

(b) adequate cleaning and disinfection has been carried out on previously infected establishments;

(c) the establishment fulfils the conditions laid down in paragraph 1.

6. Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter into the Union when the third country or territory of origin has undertaken to inform the Commission of the suspension, withdrawal or re-granting of approval of any establishment.

Article 57 U.K. Specific animal health requirements for the captive birds

Consignments of captive birds shall only be permitted to enter the Union if the animals of the consignment:

(a)

have not been vaccinated against highly pathogenic avian influenza;

(b)

have been vaccinated against infection with Newcastle disease virus and the competent authority of the third country or territory of origin has provided guarantees that the vaccines used comply with the general and specific criteria for vaccines against infection with Newcastle disease virus set out in point 1 of Annex XV;

(c)

have been subjected to a virus detection test for highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease with negative results, within a period of 7 to 14 days prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union.

Article 58 U.K. Requirements concerning the entry of consignments of captive birds into Member States with status free from infection with Newcastle disease virus without vaccination

Consignments of captive birds of galliformes species intended for a Member State with status free from infection with Newcastle disease virus without vaccination, shall only be permitted to enter the Union if the animals of the consignment:

(a)

have not be vaccinated against infection with Newcastle disease virus;

(b)

have been kept in isolation for a period of at least 14 days prior to the date of loading of the consignment for dispatch to the Union in the establishment of origin or quarantine establishment in the third country or territory of origin under the supervision of an official veterinarian, where:

(i)

no bird has been vaccinated against infection with Newcastle disease virus during the period of 21 days preceding the date of dispatch of the consignment;

(ii)

no bird which was not intended for the consignment has entered into the establishment during that time;

(iii)

no vaccination has been carried out on the establishment;

(c)

have tested negative, during the period of 14 days prior to the date of loading for dispatch to the Union, to serological tests to detect the presence of antibodies against Newcastle disease virus, performed on blood samples at a level which gives 95 % confidence of detecting infection at 5 % prevalence.

SECTION 2 U.K. SPECIFIC ANIMAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR MOVEMENT AND HANDLING OF CAPTIVE BIRDS AFTER THEIR ENTRY INTO THE UNION

Article 59 U.K. Requirements concerning the movement of captive birds after entry into the Union

Following their entry into the Union, consignments of captive birds shall be transported without delay directly to a quarantine establishment approved in accordance with Article 14 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2035, as follows:

(a)

the total journey from the point of entry into the Union to the quarantine establishment must not exceed 9 hours;

(b)

vehicles used for the transport of the consignment to the quarantine establishment must be sealed by the competent authority in such a way that prevents the possibility of any substitution of the contents.

Article 60 U.K. Obligation on operators at the quarantine establishment following the entry into the Union of consignments of captive birds

Operators of the quarantine establishment for the captive birds referred to in Article 59 shall:

(a)

keep captive birds quarantined for a period of at least 30 days;

(b)

where sentinel birds are used for examination, sampling and testing procedures, ensure that:

(i)

a minimum number of 10 sentinel birds are used in each unit of the quarantine establishment;

(ii)

they are at least 3 weeks old and used only once for those purposes;

(iii)

they are either leg-banded for identification purposes or identified with another non-removable means of identification;

(iv)

they are unvaccinated and have been found sero-negative for highly pathogenic avian influenza and infection with Newcastle disease virus within a period of 14 days prior to the date of commencement of quarantine;

(v)

they are placed in the approved quarantine establishment before the arrival of the captive birds in the common air space and as close as possible to the captive birds so that close contact between the sentinel birds and the excrements of the captive birds in quarantine is ensured;

(vi)

release the captive birds from quarantine only on the written authorisation of an official veterinarian.

Article 61 U.K. Obligation on the competent authorities following the entry into the Union of consignments of captive birds

Following the arrival of the captive birds in the quarantine establishment referred to in Article 59, the competent authority shall:

(a)

inspect the conditions of quarantine, including an examination of the mortality records and a clinical inspection of the captive birds, at least at the beginning and the end of quarantine period;

(b)

subject the captive birds to testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza and infection with Newcastle disease virus, in accordance with the examination, sampling and testing procedures set out in Annex XX.

SECTION 3 U.K. DEROGATIONS FROM THE ANIMAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY INTO THE UNION OF CAPTIVE BIRDS AND FOR MOVEMENT AND HANDLING OF THOSE BIRDS AFTER THEIR ENTRY INTO THE UNION

Article 62 U.K. Derogation from animal health requirements for captive birds originating from certain third countries or territories

By way of derogation from requirements laid down in Articles 3 to 10 of Part I, except point (a)(i) of Article 3, Articles 11 to 19 and Articles 53 to 61, consignments of captive birds which do not comply with those requirements shall be permitted to enter the Union if they originate from third countries or territories specifically listed for the entry into the Union of captive birds based on equivalent guarantees.